Tomb Raider

In Cinemas Now

Lara Croft (The Danish Girl's Alicia Vikander) travels to a mythical island to uncover the mystery behind her father's disappearance. Yes, based on the video game series of the same name, which has sold over 58 million copies to date.

Lara Croft is the fiercely independent daughter of an eccentric adventurer (Dominic West, TV's The Wire) who vanished when she was scarcely a teen. Determined to forge her own path, she refuses to take the reins of her father's global empire just as staunchly as she rejects the idea that he's truly gone. Going explicitly against his final wishes, she leaves everything she knows behind in search of her dad's last-known destination: a fabled tomb on a mythical island that might be somewhere off the coast of Japan. Suddenly, the stakes couldn't be higher for Lara, who, against the odds and armed with only her sharp mind, blind faith and inherently stubborn spirit, must learn to push herself beyond her limits as she journeys into the unknown.

Written by

At some point, Hollywood is going to realise they will never make a successful video game adaptation. This new Tomb Raider might not be the final nail in the coffin, but it definitely won’t zap any new life into the genre.

The problems start from scene one. This iteration of Lara Croft is introduced doing some boxing training, which it turns out she can’t pay for (she has refused her inheritance, Bruce Wayne in Batman Begins-style). Seems like an expensive hobby to take up if you’re broke, but then the film needs her to know how to fight.

So far, so nonsensical, and events proceed in a similar fashion before winding up on an island off Japan, and eventually, a tomb. That should be where things get good, but we’re served up the same type of spiky traps and puzzles that we’ve seen a million times before, while the plot flirts with the supernatural before settling on something much more boring.

And Alicia Vikander can act (although this Lara is, as has become de rigueur for modern blockbuster leads, a bit of a dickhead). In fact, the casting is all great, down to distracting cameos from the likes of Kristen Scott Thomas and Nick Frost.

But why get Walton Goggins as your villain then give him such a milquetoast role? The highlight of the entire film is the few seconds where he taunts Lara with her childhood nickname ‘Sprout’, and we’re given a tantalising glimpse at what Goggins can do when he’s off the leash.

Some dismal attempts at Marvel-style franchise-building are threaded through Tomb Raider leading to its final sequel-threatening moments. It’s endearingly optimistic, but it’s mainly just irritating.

Sydney Morning Herald

press

If the entire exotic adventure genre is built on an irresponsibility that no longer passes muster, why bother with a new Tomb Raider at all?

Well it felt like more than just a love letter to anyone who's played all the games and has nearly rage quit Tomb Raider Chronicles & Anniversary due to THOSE timed runs. Though, I was unsure for the first 15 minutes...I mean, that bike chase through London to the sounds of techno had me thinking I was in for a celebration of extreme sports and all things cross fit. I need not have worried though, it never went the way of the Point Blank remake. And there was no more techno (or dubsteps) from there on. As a nerd out fan of the game series, It was an unexpected kick seeing Lara perform her first rope jump, monkey bar traverse, adrenaline sprint...and reluctant first kill. Thankfully she never found herself having to dispatch endangered species every 5 minutes. It had just the right amount of emotional ques and the action was believable - in a tomb raider universe - and looked damn good too. As an origin story, it nicely table-sets and creates anticipation for further adventures, I was left with a level of excitement not felt since the ending Batman Begins.